Talking Beauty

I deliver talks that change the way people understand and think about their business and the world in which we live. With the insights I have developed from years of research, I work with companies from around the world to explore an intriguing question — ‘What would your business look like if it were more beautiful?” What is a beautiful business, and, what does it mean in practice?

By demonstrating how we can use beauty as a lens, with design as an application, I show people how to find opportunities for improving their business and its impact on the planet, whatever the sector. It is an alternative worldview that is practical and actionable. A CEO recently asked me ‘Can any business be beautiful?’, my reply was ‘Why would you want to do it any other way?’

Each talk is 30-60 mins long or can be combined into an interactive one day event.

Beautiful Leaders

01: Insight into how businesses and their marketplace will look in the future.02: Why purpose led businesses are more successful03: Explore what beautiful leadership looks like04: How ethical businesses yield high financial returns05: Why quick-fix leadership creates ugly outcomes06: How to build and lead a design led business that delivers meaning, purpose and integrity07: How beauty as a lens can help investors make better decisions.

Beautiful Makers

01: Why beauty as a philosophy and practice helps us craft better things that endure02: How meaningful consumer experience plays a key role in commercial success03: How to code beauty and design beautiful AI04: Discover how beautiful business scales05: Insights into how to design a restorative, successful business

Some of my previous talks have been for Microsoft, Husqvarna, Interface, The Guardian, McLaren Automotive, KPN Holland, The Coca Cola Company, Robeco, Google, IBM, WPP, GSMA, The Brazilian Bankers Association, ACCEL, Sogeti, Filippa K, Music Television, HP, The Hay Literature Festival, The Do Lectures, SXSW, as well as for business schools including MIT and Sloan School of Management.

Whether at an intimate event, an away day, a conference or a team get together, I help people tune up their business to become beautiful and profitable.

The beginning of a beautiful future starts with a beautiful talk.

What fellow travellers say

‘Alan is the best I know in describing, if not predicting, why the future of business looks the way it does, and knowing what it means. But more than that, he knows how to apply that connective insight and knowledge. Alan would be invaluable to any company exploring ‘what next?’ means to them and what they might do about it. Especially if they wanted to make it beautiful’.

Menno van DoornDirector of Sogeti Labs Research Institute. CapGemini Group

‘I love working with Alan. He is dangerous, disruptive and difficult. These are rare qualities. He asks the difficult questions and disrupts what you think is right. In a world where you are just getting to grips with what is happening Alan will be dealing with what happens next.

I never come away comfortable after a chat with Alan, I am always motivated and excited – there’s dangerous for you!’